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However, Beaumont officials have confirmed that they have been in talks with numerous health care organizations over the past few months.

Henry Ford CEO Nancy Schlichting said in a statement that the health system is looking at "growth possibilities."

Over the past several months, sources have told Crain's that Beaumont has hired a consulting firm to develop a request for proposal for a possible sale or affiliation.

Interested parties have included for-profit chains Vanguard Health Systems Inc., which owns the Detroit Medical Center, and Hospital Corporation of America, along with nonprofit systems such as the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Michigan Health System.

Beaumont is a three-hospital regional health care provider with a total of 1,744 licensed beds, 18,000 employees and more than 3,000 physicians in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

The Henry Ford system includes five hospitals, the 1,100-physician Henry Ford Medical Group, the 500,000-member Health Alliance Plan of Michigan and 29 primary care centers.